Photos: Inside the new Maison Boulud at Ritz-Carlton Montreal

Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE06.12.2012

Daniel Boulud, a Michelin-starred chef, in front of a small private dining room at Maison Boulud that seats six. Boulud, a 57-year-old native of Lyon, presides with his management company, the Dinex Group, over a small empire of restaurants, bistros and bars: there are six in New York, where he lives: Daniel, Bar Boulud, Café Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne, DBGB Kitchen & Bar and Bar Pleiades. There is one each in Miami, Palm Beach, London, Beijing and Singapore. He is expected to open a second Canadian restaurant later this year, Café Boulud in Toronto.

Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

Clear glass dividers with pale coloured squares define different zones within Maison Boulud at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal. The space and its furnishings were designed by the Japanese firm Super Potato but the tables and chairs were manufactured in Quebec, as was some of the lighting. Element Bois in Lachute made the tables; the chairs were made by Les Ameublements Renaissance in Laval. The floors and tables are cherry wood, and the cherry is repeated in wall panels.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

A view of the bar, which has seating on three sides. The seats are heavy and comfortable - perhaps a tad too comfortable for Chef Boulud, who expressed concern last week that they are too big.
A glass-enclosed gas fireplace visible from the entrance to the restaurant is located between the bar and the dining area. There are plans to clad the column above the fireplace in the same copper used around the kitchenís Beech oven.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

There are panelled areas of cement along the walls of Maison Boulud that have been worked with a trowel for a textured, combed effect: it's another example of the use of texture in the space.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

The view of the bar area at Maison Boulud from just inside the entrance. The bar is made of Marron Imperial marble, which is a veined dark grey-brown. The aluminum louvred ceiling, which is new, is designed to hide the light sources mounted above it and it also has an acoustic effect. The club chairs in the bar area are upholstered in an plummy burgundy with gold and the wall panels are cherry. Guests who sit at the bar near the window have a view of the rest of the dining room.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

Granite from the Saguenay region of Quebec known as Le Caledonia marble surrounds the semi-open kitchen, which stands where the Ritz bar used to, and the same marble lines its walls.
There's a kitchen where the bar used to be, bounded by a wide band of frosted glass with a wall of Le Caledonia granite from the Saguenay.
Brushed steel squares on the ceiling above the kitchen area draw the eye upward - and the lighting draws attention to front of the kitchen. The garde manger and pastry area of the kitchen are visible, although frosted glass limits what guests see of the action in the kitchen. 'The idea is to make it evident that there is activity but not an open kitchen,' said Ritz president and general manager Andrew Torriani. 'The idea is to see movement.'
An oven known as a Beech oven permits grilling, braising, grilling and the same time cooking at the same time.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

A pair of chandeliers in the 24-seat private dining room of Maison Boulud. The chandeliers are made from wine glasses suspended upside down. Apart from this pair of fixtures and several Italian hanging glass fixtures in the bar area, most of the light fixtures are different one from the other.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

A closeup of one of the two wineglass chandeliers in the provate dining room of Maison Boulud. The glasses are suspended upside down. The room seats 24. Apart from this pair of fixtures and some Italian hanging glass fixtures in the bar area, few of the light fixtures are repeated.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

There are six styles of chair and four different upholstery fabrics used on the seats at Maison Boulud. But in the larger private dining room, which seats 24, there are 30 different fabrics represented in the 1,046 wall panels mounted on the roomís two facing wall. It's one of several ways in which the designers have chosen to add texture to the space and it has the added effect of absorbing sound and making the space quieter.
The capacity of the main dining room is 57. The bar area seats 34 at the bar and at surrounding tables that are lower than the dining tables. The glassed-in terrace, known as a verriere, looks out onto the garden; it has 46 seats and they can be used year-round. Sailcloth installed loosely over the roof of the verriere will act as a kind of umbrella in summer: the room is ventilated with a form of air curtain, Ritz GM Andrew Torriani explained, a technique used in hot countries like Saudi Arabia.
With 24 seats on the Sherbrooke St. terrace in front of the hotel and 66 in the garden behind the restaurant, thecapacity for summer seating is considerably higher than it is in winter - 227 versus 137.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

The garden of Maison Boulud is still a work in progress. It features a small duck house - yes, the pond and the ducks that so many associate with the Ritz garden will be back - and a small waterfall as well as a pond surrounded by a flagstone path and a small footbridge across the pond. The bridge was built for Rene Angelil's daughter's wedding at the Ritz - and a bridge was incoporated in the new design.
A low flagstone wall was built to raise part of the garden and the pond is being shifted slightly toward the back of the space from its original locatio. Chicken wire used in the past to keep the ducks from wandering out from the pond to diners has been replaced by a low wooden fence. The tables in the verriere will be teak and the dining tables outside on the terrace will be fashioned of a wood known as ipe, a durable hardwood from the Brazilian rain forests.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

The tone-on-tone pattern upholstery in these dining chairs is a soft taupe. A similar, but not identical fabric, in a plummy burgundy and rich gold, is used on the chairs around the tables in the bar area. There are six different chair models at Maison Boulud - and a total of 30 different kinds of upholstery fabric, if one considers the textured wall panels in the larger private dining room.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

The glassware at Maison Boulud is Riedel; the flatware is Oneida, in the SantAndrea pattern; the napkins are white tone-on-tone Egyptian cotton and the runner is white and pale taupe. The dishes are white - Bernardaud by Limoges; they're used in all Bouludís restaurants, said Georgette Farkas, public relations director for the Dinex Group.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

A private dining room off the main dining room features seating for six and a view out the window onto the terrace and the garden. The standing lamp was designed by Super Potato and made in Quebec by the Bloom Lighting Group.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

Most of the tables at Maison Boulud are made from American cherry wood from Pennsylvania but some are fashioned from European cherry: these are rough hewn, to embody a natural look, which is one theme of the Super Potato design: the Japanese design firm has made extensive use in this space of stone, wood, metal and glass.
Wooden attachments known as butterflies, which they resemble, secure the wood at points where it splits. The wood used here is walnut, which is darker than the cherry of the table. The flatware is Oneida, the Saint Andrea pattern, and the tone-on-tone white napkins are Egyptian cotton.Vincenzo D'Alto / THE GAZETTE

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